120+ PA Fire Departments Get a Piece of the $48.5 Million
November 15, 2008 by BigGuy · Leave a Comment
Congratulations to the 120+ Pennsylvania fire departments who were awarded the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG). On Friday, $48.5 million in assistants grants were awarded to fire departments all over the United States.
This was the eleventh round of FY ‘08 grants awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The goal of the AFG program is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and non-affiliated emergency medical services organizations.
These are just a few of the Local Departments who I saw listed on the web page. For the complete list click the following link. Assistance to Firefighters Grant.
- Raccoon Twp. Vol. Fire Dept.
- New Brighton Volunteer Fire Department
- Lancaster Emergency Medical Services Association
- Hanover Volunteer Fire Department
- Erie Fire Dept
- Beaver Falls Fire Department
- West End Ambulance Service
- Oil City Fire Department
- Richland Township Fire Department
- New Galilee EMS (dba Northwestern EMS)
- Sharon Fire Department
- Irwin Volunteer Fire Department
- Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department
Once again, congrats on your awards. Sorry if I didn’t list your organization above. It’s a very long list.
911 Under Investigation After Student’s Death
November 12, 2008 by BigGuy · Leave a Comment
Ok, I first saw this a few weeks ago and have been keeping tabs it. Just today Atlanta News Station Channel 2 released shocking evidence about Antoine Williams, a 16-year old high school student, who lost his life during school back in October.
At 3:21 p.m, Atlanta 911 received calls of a school student who grabbed his heart and passed out while in school. They immediately dispatched police, paramedic, and fire for a cardiac arrest. The student ended up dying because of a very lengthy response time from EMS personnel.
Over a month later, a local news station started asking questions. That’s when they heard the 911 dispatch tape for the first time. They realized that at 3:29 p.m., the Atlanta 911 dispatcher accidently canceled Fire and Paramedic response to the call that day. The 911 tape that was released shows how dispatchers meant only to cancel the police response because there were already resource officers at the school. But instead, they also canceled the fire and paramedics.
Ok, so you made a mistake and canceled the wrong guy’s. FIX IT!!! The 911 dispatcher waited until someone called 911 again, another 35 minutes later, before re-calling the firefighters and paramedics. I would hate to be in that dispatchers shoes at that point.
I’m looking for more info on the call. I’m not pointing blame at anyone at this point. Maybe it wasn’t the dispatchers fault. Who know’s. I’ll post more information as soon as I can find some.
Wreck Kills Virginia Firefighter Roy Smith III
November 8, 2008 by BigGuy · Leave a Comment
“The usage of seat belts may have prevented some of the injuries and possibly the death in this accident,” said Tyler, adding that the investigation is ongoing, but it appears fog and speed may have played a factor. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Smith family and his fellow fire fighters.
Bristol Firefighter Wayne Brown Dies In Line Of Duty
November 5, 2008 by BigGuy · Leave a Comment
I read this and it hit a little close to home in more than one way.
“Rhode Island – Firefighter Wayne Brown of Bristol Fire and Rescue Department was preparing to respond to a call from his home on November 3rd. He became ill and called for emergency medical services for himself. When emergency assistance arrived, Firefighter Brown was found unresponsive near his door with his gear on. To date, the cause of death has not been determined.”
I’m currently recovering from a 2-1/2 story fall within the fire department that could have paralyzed or even killed me. Fortunately, I only suffered a broken back. I’m doingfine with an expected 100% recovery. My doctor said I’ll be back in bunker gear within a year. Also, just last week, my home station’s QRS service responded to the local Community College of Beaver County where a healthy, 18 year old Tamir Phillips, a freshman student and promising basketball player, collapsed and died during a break at basketball practice. Tamir never got a chance to play a single game of his college career. Well, what I guess I’m trying to say is, Life is too short. You could be in your own home, responding to a call, or taking a water break at basketball practice. I was lucky. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Brown and Phillips family’s, and all of his brother fire fighters and teammates.
Link to origional article on Wayne Brown FireFightingNews.com
Link to article on Tamir Phillips WPXI.Com
